(TOKYO) — Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe won parliamentary approval Friday for ratification of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, despite U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s plan to withdraw from the 12-nation trade pact.

Upper house lawmakers approved the TPP on Friday, heeding Abe’s calls to push ahead with it despite Trump’s rejection of the free-trade initiative championed by President Barack Obama.

Abe’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party has an ample majority in both houses of parliament. Ratification of needed regulatory revisions by the Cabinet is expected soon.

The market opening measures required by the trade pact are seen as a way for Abe to push through difficult reforms of the agricultural and health sectors. So far, Abe has made scant progress on a slew of changes he has proposed to help improve Japan’s lagging productivity and competitiveness.

Trump has vowed to take steps to exit the pact right after he takes office.

A U.S. withdrawal would kill the trade pact unless its terms are revised. The agreement between the dozen members requires both the U.S. and Japan to join to attain the required 85 percent of the group’s total GDP since the U.S. economy accounts for 60 percent of that total, and Japan less than 20 percent.

After expending political capital to fight vested interests fearful of market opening and reforms likely to be required by the trade pact, Abe and other leaders in Asia have bemoaned the impending loss of the U.S. as TPP flag bearer.

“We want to carry this out and expect others will follow suit,” Abe recently told a parliamentary committee.

“There is basically zero chance of this coming into effect since the next president, Trump, plans to leave it,” Tokunaga told fellow lawmakers Friday.

Leaders in New Zealand and several other countries have said they still hope to find a way to rescue the initiative.

The TPP was meant to help give the U.S. a leading role in setting trade rules reaching beyond tariffs and other conventional trade barriers. It’s possible demise could spur faster progress on another, much less discussed trade agreement called the RCEP, or Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership. That trade grouping includes no countries from the Americas but all the big hitters in Asia: China, India, Japan, South Korea as well as Australia, New Zealand and the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

(TOKYO) — Seventy-five years after a Japanese admiral led the attack on the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor, the mayor of his hometown is joining his Honolulu counterpart to mark the anniversary — as friends.

Tatsunobu Isoda, the mayor of Nagaoka, Japan, will lay flowers at the main memorial event on Wednesday and join a smaller ceremony a day later co-organized by Japan and the U.S. for the first time.

His presence is the fruit of nearly a decade of effort by his predecessor, Tamio Mori, who in 2014 became the first Japanese municipal leader invited to the commemoration in Hawaii.

“To many Americans, Pearl Harbor was a sacred place for the survivors and their animosity, and a place to glorify the war dead,” said Nagaoka city official Yusuke Nishiyama, who has organized peace education and youth exchange programs with Honolulu for several years.

Nagaoka, a city of 270,000 people on the Japan Sea, is the hometown of Adm. Isoroku Yamamoto, the naval commander who masterminded the surprise attack on Dec. 7, 1941, that killed 2,400 sailors, Marines and soldiers.

Mori reached out to then-Honolulu Mayor Mufi Hannemann at an international conference in the Hawaiian capital in 2007.

Introducing himself as the head of Yamamoto’s hometown, he proposed youth exchanges for peace education to restore friendship.

It took five years for Nagaoka and Honolulu to become sister cities, and even longer to build a deeper trust.

“We continued our exchanges, not just on milestone anniversaries but year after year, and it was last year when we finally heard the word ‘reconciliation’ mentioned (by the Americans) for the first time,” said Nishiyama, the Nagaoka official.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced this week that he will visit Pearl Harbor with President Barack Obama in late December to pay respects to the war dead as a gesture of reconciliation.

Nagaoka is famed for its fireworks, and displays of them in Hawaii have become a symbolic part of the exchange, including one at the ceremony last year marking the 70th anniversary of the end World War II.

In Nagoaka, the fireworks have long served as a reminder of the more than 1,400 people who died in U.S. aerial firebombing attacks on the city during the final weeks of the war.

The city’s residents can take some solace in knowing that although Yamamoto was behind the Pearl Harbor attack, he initially opposed waging war on America, because he thought Japan had little chance of winning. He died in 1943 when his plane was shot down by U.S. forces.

Produced by Deluxe VR for LIFE VR, in partnership with HTC and AMD, Remembering Pearl Harbor is told in three acts, through the eyes of Lt. Jim Downing, one of the oldest living survivors of the attack. Lt. Downing’s voice guides users through the aftermath of the devastating attack, as well as to the home front—where families received letters that Lt. Downing, as postmaster of the USS West Virginia, wrote to the families of men who died or were injured during the attack—and the present day, 75 years later, as Downing discusses the impact the attack had had on his life.

Using archival documents and footage from the National World War II Museum, as well as reference images from the LIFE archive and the Library of Congress, and with the guidance of Pearl Harbor expert Craig Nelson, the designers were able to create a room-scale replica of a 1941 home, which is rendered in real-time. VR users can walk around the room and interact with the objects displayed around them, even issues of LIFE magazine from that period.

“You can pick them up and flip through them to see what the coverage of this historical event was at the time,” says Tramz.

Watch the video above to see how Remembering Pearl Harbor was created.

Remembering Pearl Harbor is available now, exclusively on Viveport for the HTC Vive. A 360° trailer can be viewed in the LIFE VR app for iOS and Android and a full-length 360° edition of the experience will be released in the LIFE VR app later this month.

Pavement crumbled away suddenly in early November, leaving the 100-ft.-wide and more than 50-ft.-deep hole in the middle of a busy five-lane street. Within a week, the mayor of Fukuoka said repair crews had filled the hole with sand and repaired the damaged utilities and that the road was 30 times stronger than it had been before the hole.

Over the weekend, though, people saw part of the road sink about 7 cm (2.7 in) at once, CNN reports. Traffic through the sinking area stopped on Saturday, though it has since reopened.

Fukuoka mayor Soichiro Takashima apologized in a Facebook post for not warning residents that the street could sink slightly as the sinkhole filling settles, and added that the street may continue to sink a few more centimeters before the repair is fully compressed. CNN reports that city officials told them the movement was expected.

Thanks to a now-viral video that depicts a hypothetical “spamusement” park complete with bubble bath roller coasters and steam room trolley rides, a spa amusement park is now actually in the works. In addition to showing many potential relaxing activities, the clip also featured Beppu’s mayor Yasuhiro Nagano saying that he’ll work to make this fantastical idea a reality if the video hit one million views.

Now, nearly a week later, the video has garnered almost two million views. Furthermore, it looks like Mayor Nagano will be making good on his promise — according to RocketNews24, the mayor’s office issued a press release that confirmed that plans for the amusement park are underway.

A Japanese amusement park faced a deluge of criticism after opening an ice skating rink featuring thousands of dead fish suspended in ice.

Space World, in the southwestern city of Kitakyushu, closed the aquarium-themed skating rink on Nov. 17 after an online campaign called the attraction, “immoral,” “cruel” and “disrespectful of life,” reports the Guardian.

The outcry began after a local TV report on the rink, which featured about 5,000 dead mackerel and other fish embedded in ice. Some of the frozen fish were positioned to spell out “hello,” while others formed arrows to guide skaters in the correct direction around the rink.

According to the newspaper Asahi Shimbun, Space World wanted visitors to “have a sense of sliding on the sea.” The amusement park’s website touted the rink as the first attraction of its kind in the world.

In the face of mounting criticism, officials told Asahi Shimbun that the fish were already dead before they embedded them into the ice. “Misunderstanding spread on the Internet that the fish were frozen alive, but that was not the case. We should have explained more.”

“It really came back. And it was so awful. The sways to the side were huge,” Kazuhiro Onuki said after northeastern Japan was jolted Tuesday by a magnitude-7.4 earthquake, the strongest since a devastating quake and tsunami five years ago.

“But nothing fell from the shelves,” Onuki, 68, said in a phone interview, his voice calm and quiet.

Coastal residents returned home from higher ground, and fishing boats to port, after tsunami warnings were lifted along Japan’s Pacific coast. The earthquake gave Tokyo — 240 kilometers (150 miles) away — a good shake, but was much less powerful than the magnitude-9.0 quake in 2011, and only moderate tsunami waves reached shore.

The Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant, which leaked radiation for kilometers (miles) after the 2011 tsunami, reported no abnormalities. Decommissioning work on the destroyed reactors was suspended and the site inspected.

At least 14 people were reported injured, three with broken bones, and Japanese TV showed items scattered on the floor in a store and books fallen from shelves in a library.

On the coast, lines of cars snaked away in the pre-dawn darkness after authorities urged residents to seek higher ground immediately.

The first tsunami waves hit about an hour later. The highest one, at 1.4 meters (4.6 feet), reached Sendai Bay about two hours after the quake. By comparison, the waves in 2011 were 10 to 20 meters (30 to 60 feet) high.

The evacuation appeared to proceed calmly. Katushiro Abe, a 47-year-old tourism official in Ishinomaki, a city hit hard by the 2011 tsunami, was on the early shift and already in the office, but his wife and teenage daughter fled their home.

He said his family jumped in a car and drove to the foot of a nearby hill and rushed up.

Tsunami alerts have been issued at least two times since 2011, he said, so his family was prepared and wasn’t that alarmed. “We stayed in touch by email,” he said.

It was the largest earthquake in northeastern Japan since the one in 2011 and some large aftershocks the same day. The U.S. Geological Survey measured Tuesday’s quake at a lower magnitude 6.9.

The Japan Meteorological Agency described it as an aftershock of the 2011 quake, which triggered a tsunami that killed about 18,000 people and wiped out entire neighborhoods.

“Aftershocks could continue not only for five years but as long as 100 years,” Yasuhiro Umeda, a Kyoto University seismologist, said on Japanese broadcaster NTV.

In some areas, water could be seen moving up rivers, which funnel the waves to even greater heights, but remained well within flood embankments. It was eerily reminiscent of the 2011 disaster, when much larger waves rushed up rivers and overflowed, sweeping away houses and automobiles.

Captains took their boats out to sea to avoid any damage as the waves rolled in.

“When I evacuated offshore, I experienced unusual waves,” crew leader Hideo Ohira said after returning to Onahama port. “But they were not that big.”

TEPCO, the utility that operates the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant, said a swelling of the tide of up to 1 meter (3 feet) was detected offshore.

The plant is being decommissioned after the 2011 tsunami sent three of its reactors into meltdown, but the site remains at risk as the utility figures out how to remove still-radioactive fuel rods and debris and what to do with the melted reactor cores.

At the nearby Fukushima Dai-ni plant, TEPCO said a pump that supplies cooling water to a spent fuel pool stopped working, but a backup pump was employed after about 90 minutes, and the temperature rose less than one degree.

Naohiro Masuda, head of TEPCO’s decommissioning unit, said he believes a safety system shut off the pump automatically as the water in the pool shook.

Onuki, the man who recalled the 2011 quake, has not been able to return to his home in Tomioka since then. The town remains a no-go zone because of radioactive contamination. He was staying at what he calls one of his temporary homes on Tuesday.

TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s leader will likely seek reassurances that President-elect Donald Trump remains committed to the U.S.-Japan security alliance when the two meet in New York on Thursday.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe plans to meet the incoming president in what will be Trump’s first meeting with a world leader since his election last week.

Statements made by Trump during the campaign have caused consternation in many world capitals, including Tokyo.

Trump said he would demand that allies such as Japan and South Korea contribute more to the cost of basing U.S. troops in their countries.

Such comments have worried Japan at a time when the threat from North Korea is rising, and China is challenging the U.S.-led security status quo in the Pacific.

Both Japan and South Korea already pay considerable sums to support the U.S. bases, and note that it’s also in America’s strategic interest to deploy troops in the region.

Abe may also try to sway Trump on the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a 12-country trade agreement that the president-elect opposes.

It appears unlikely that the U.S. Congress will ratify the treaty. The pact is expected to be discussed in a side meeting at the annual summit of the Asia Pacific Economic Community in Peru, where Abe heads after New York.

That was quick, and impressive. Nearly a week after a giant sinkhole opened on a five-lane street in a southwestern Japanese city, all appears normal.

The 65-foot-deep sinkhole opened early on Nov. 8 in the business district of Fukuoka and was thought to be the result of work on an underground subway line extension. Slabs of pavement, traffic lights and utility poles were swallowed when the road caved in; some locals were evacuated; and disruptions in gas and water supplies and cell phone signals were reported, as were power cuts. Soichiro, Takashima, the city’s mayor, called the sinkhole “unprecedented.”

Within a few days, the hole was filled in with a mixture of cement and sand. According to CNN, it then took some two days to restore damaged utility lines and resurface the affected area of the road.

Takashima was quoted as saying the section of road was 30 times stronger than it had been before the collapse.

On Tuesday, pedestrians and vehicles again made use of the busy throughway.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi met his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe on Friday, commencing a three-day bilateral meeting in Japan, to discuss developing the two countries’ economic and strategic relationship.

“Japan may be on its way to becoming one of India’s most important strategic partners, some years from now,” Sanjib Baruah, an honorary research professor at India’s Center for Policy Research think-tank and professor at Bard College, tells TIME. “[But] China is the elephant in the room.”

Traditional alliances in the region are shifting, as Russia — one of India’s biggest arms suppliers — seeks stronger relationships with Pakistan and China. As the country looks to phase out its phase out its fleet of Soviet-era aircrafts, India has increasingly looked to Washington, and American defense companies for military equipment.

The meeting with Japan is indicative of a continuing pivot for India as the two countries discuss deals ranging from a highly coveted civil nuclear cooperation pact to a defense trade agreement worth more than a billion dollars.

“There is always some nervousness in Indian policy circles that the U.S. may be insufficiently appreciative of India’s desire for strategic autonomy. But with Japan there is no such baggage,” says Baruah. “In the long run I can see Japan occupying the kind of place that Russia once did in Indian foreign and defense policy.”

Here’s what you need to know about Modi’s visit to Japan.

1. Pomp and circumstance

Modi’s visit was preceded by much fanfare as 32 members of India’s military band will participate in Japan’s Self Defense Forces 2016 Marching Festival for the first time, celebrating the two countries’ efforts to developing closer strategic ties. According to The Hindustan Times, the festival, which was held in Tokyo this year, is a tradition going back more than half a century and draws audiences of more than 50,000 people. Although India’s marching band has been in Tokyo since earlier this week, the actual festival will take place from Nov. 11 to 13, during Modi’s visit. While the march is a largely symbolic overture, it sets the tone for a meeting highly anticipated in bringing the two countries together both economically, as well as strategically.

2. Search and rescue planes

The meeting will also finalize one of the first military sale’s Japan has made since lifting a 50-year-old export ban on arms sales two years ago. According to Reuters, India will buy 12 rescue water-planes from Japan, worth an estimated $1.6 billion. The deal will be included in the memorandum of understanding signed by Prime Minister Abe and Modi during the summit.

3. Civil nuclear cooperation-pact

Modi and Abe will also conclude a much anticipated civil nuclear-cooperation pact, which would allow Japan to sell nuclear technology to India. According to the Japan Times, the pact will benefit Japanese nuclear-component manufacturers who suffered setbacks after the 2011 Fukushima disaster. The deal may also mark the first time Japan has sold nuclear technology to a country that has not signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Negotiations began in 2010, before either Prime Minister was elected, and the two leaders reached a memorandum of understanding in December of last year, during Abe’s visit to India. Abe’s Vice-Foreign Minister Shinsuke Sugiyama traveled to India last month to put finishing touches on the deal.

4. Focus on Regional Security

Despite the promises of the meeting, some experts see the recent U.S. election as a monkey-wrench in terms of projected gains from the bilateral talks — as much of the long term success of the meeting will hinge on U.S. influence in the region. There is also uncertainty as to how the new U.S. administration, under President-elect Donald Trump, will respond to its alliances around the world, especially in Asia.

“With the election of Trump, the containment strategy towards China embraced by the U.S. and Japan looks uncertain at best,” Jeff Kingston, Director of Asian Studies in Japan’s Temple University tells TIME.

Although, there has been little indication of Trump’s policies, some fear his “America First” policy speech last April, raised serious questions as to America’s future global commitment in Asia.

“The Trump factor reinforces the perception that the U.S. is a declining power in Asia, and leaders will act accordingly,” says Kingston.

Among Japan’s largest concerns is China’s increasing military presence in the South China Sea. As an island nation, with very few natural resources, the disputed waterway is Japan’s cheapest trade corridor. For this reason, China’s militarization of the sea is of great concern to Japan and one of the areas in which it seeks stronger rhetoric from India.

While India issued a joint statement with the U.S. in January, “[calling] on all parties to avoid the threat or use of force and pursue resolution of territorial and maritime disputes through all peaceful means,” the country has not risked adopting stronger rhetoric against China’s actions in the contested waters.

Ahead of Modi’s meeting with Abe, China’s state-run Global Times, warned India of “great losses” should New Delhi decide to call on Beijing to respect the Hague tribunal’s arbitration ruling rebuking China’s behavior in the South China Sea. Since then, the Times of India reported, Beijing’s foreign ministry has called on New Delhi to “respect [the] legitimate concerns” of India’s northern neighbor during the Indian prime minister’s meeting with Abe.

Although India would like to check the growing influence of China in the region, “China has significant capacity to cause trouble for India in its immediate neighborhood,” says research professor Baruah. For now, it isn’t in India’s best interest to antagonize the Asian giant — especially when there is still much trepidation as to Trump’s policies and influence in the region.

“Everyone is on ‘wait and see’ mode to gauge how Trump will act, because on the campaign trail he was a loose cannon,” says Kingston.